[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 24, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3497-S3498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Medicaid Work Requirements

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, having a job gives individuals purpose 
and dignity. We should promote policies lifting people out of poverty.
  In the 1990s, we passed welfare reform with a Republican Congress and 
a Democrat President. The results? Welfare rolls went down, poverty 
rates decreased, and employment and earnings increased.
  Establishing work requirements in Medicaid for able-bodied adults 
with reasonable exemptions, then from the previous precedent of welfare 
reform--that all makes common sense yet today.
  States like Iowa are already leading the way in establishing work 
requirements for able-bodied adults in Medicaid. Iowa's Governor 
Reynolds has said:

       If you are an able-bodied adult who can work, you should 
     work.

  We are doing the same thing at the national level.
  Work requirements under the One Big Beautiful Bill only apply to 
able-bodied adults between the ages of 19 and 64. Individuals will have 
to complete a minimum of 80 hours of work a month, or about 20 hours a 
week, of qualifying community engagement activities like working, job 
training, going to school, volunteering, or a combination of all these.
  We have reasonable exemptions for veterans with a disability rated as 
total, individuals who are medically frail or otherwise have special 
medical needs, individuals who are blind, have a substance use 
disorder, a disabling mental disorder, a physical or intellect 
disability that significantly impairs their ability to perform one or 
more activities of daily living, or serious or complex medical 
conditions.
  We also have exemptions for parents, guardians, and caretaker 
relatives of children aged 14 or under or disabled individuals and 
foster care youth through the age of 26.
  We give ``good cause'' exemptions for short-term hardships like 
hospitalizations or for an individual receiving psychiatric care. 
Individuals impacted by a natural disaster, living in a high-
unemployment area, or having to travel outside their community for an 
extended period of time to receive medical service would also be 
exempted.
  States will obviously be required to establish streamlined processes 
and use reliable data, like payroll data, to avoid individuals 
submitting their own documentation. There will also be significant 
outreach and education to those who will be required to work.
  Labor force participation data for prime-age men--25 to 54--indicates 
that between 1950 to 1970, less than 1 in 30 was out of the labor 
force. Now--maybe it shouldn't be surprising--since then, participation 
declined steadily, so that 1 in 30 figure is now 1 in 10. This 
represents nearly 7 million prime-age men absent from the workforce.
  On top of this, recent research found that nonworking Medicaid 
recipients spend 6 hours a day on socializing, relaxing, TV, and video 
games. They spend 125 hours during a 30-day month watching TV and video 
games alone. That is more than 50 percent higher than the 80 hours they 
would be required to work in a month.
  Commonsense Medicaid work requirements for able-bodied adults take 
the same approach as welfare reform did in the 1990s--move people from 
welfare to work and self-sufficiency. The

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contrary--being on government programs--is a life of poverty. If you 
want to get out of poverty, you have to be in the world of work, and 
that is what we are trying to accomplish through this legislation, just 
like we do work requirements for every other government program.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.